Real Madrid Humiliated Barcelona!
The day after El Clásico, Marca ran the following headline across its front page, using a photo of Real Madrid players celebrating their victory on the pitch as its cover. The image formed a stark contrast with the Barcelona players, each of them hanging their heads in dejection.
Marca believed that Real Madrid's 4–0 away victory over Barcelona represented the club's total superiority over its rivals. Whether in terms of strength or psychology, Real Madrid had completely crushed Barcelona, allowing them to devour Barcelona on the pitch and seize Camp Nou.
Judging from the match statistics, this had been a typical victory by a typical Real Madrid side over Barcelona.
In terms of possession, Real Madrid had only a paltry 35 percent, while Barcelona had as much as 65 percent. This was perfectly normal, because after Real Madrid had failed to compete with Barcelona for possession in the first leg of the Super Cup, Ancelotti had adopted a three-defensive-midfielder formation and abandoned the pursuit of possession.
Although Real Madrid had lacked possession, they had managed sixteen shots, ten on target, and scored four goals. Barcelona had taken fourteen shots, with only two on target, and failed to score.
Marca also believed that Real Madrid had defended corners extremely well this time. Barcelona had been awarded seven corners throughout the match, but not one of them had created any danger. Varane's performance in the back line had been excellent. The young Frenchman had scored in two consecutive matches against Barcelona, proving that he was gradually becoming a dependable player in Real Madrid's defense.
Since the beginning of the season, Pepe's performances had been unstable. In particular, after being injured during the winter break, he still had not managed to regain his form after returning. This had led